LONDON, 10 APRIL 2007 Hibernator, a new
site-specific work by London Fieldworks, takes as its starting
point the myth of Walt Disney­ cryogenically frozen at the point of
death and put into cold storage until technology can bring him back to
life. On this foundation, the artists engage in multilayered riffing on
Disney's animate, animatronic and animated creations.

The artists have created an animation studio within the Upper space at
Beaconsfield and, for the duration of the seven-week exhibition, are
engaged in the making of an animated film, Hibernator: Prince of the
Petrified Forest.

On view until 29 April,Hibernator claims as its inspiration
the same novel as Disney's landmark Bambifilm: Felix Saltin's Bambi, a
Life in the Woods. However, the star of this film is Walt
Disney himself  reborn as an animatronic chimera, grafting his head onto
the forequarters
of Bambi and the hindquarters of Thumper. (Animatronics has
clearly reached a new level, surpassing even the Madame Tussaud's
pole-dancer replica of Mickey Mouse Club alumna Britney Spears, complete
with pneumatic
breasts. Disney's famous audio-animatronic
Abraham Lincolnsimulacrum, who until
recently shared Opera House space with an exhibit about Uncle Walt
himself, was in storage at an undisclosed location and could not be
reached for comment.)

The film will begin with the Disney chimera emerging from hibernation,
and follow his negotiation of an increasingly unfamiliar landscape, far
from the idyllic forests of his imagination.

Hibernator: prince of the petrified forest,London
FieldworksPhoto courtesy of Beaconsfield

The animatronic chimera  constructed in collaboration with robotics
and prosthetics specialists and set against a pre-scripted narrative and
soundtrack  is the central element and subject of both installation and
film. Activated by an environmental cue  solar energythe re-awakening of
the chimera is conceptually linked to natural animal hibernation
patterns.

The live artwork allows the viewer to witness the solar powered actions
of the animatronic as well as the artists engaged in the live film making
process. The experience is completed by viewing the film as it unfolds
during the exhibition period. As it is created, each episode is
screened in the vast Arch space that is annexed to the main venue.

Hibernator: Prince of The Petrified Forest was commissioned by
Beaconsfield London, and is funded by Arts Council England, Henry Moore
Foundation, Arts Humanities Research Council and London South Bank
University.